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Letters Home: Bart Bedsole

Bart Bedsole is an anchor for KZTV in Corpus Christi,
Texas. He graduated from the Missouri School of
Journalism in 2000 with a degree in broadcast
journalism.

The following letter was submitted June 22, 2012

DEAR MYSELF AT AGE 20...

Be very thankful. You are among the final generations of young broadcast news reporters that will graduate to find a job that provides a decent salary and a photographer to work with. Ten years from now, people hired for the same position will be required to shoot their own stories, as well as post it all online in more places than you can imagine, and you will do it all for less money.

Don't rush to move on to higher markets or positions, because happiness and success can be found anywhere.

Spend more time on your writing and less building your resume tape. Your coworkers will respect you more for it.

Understand that KOMU is one of the world's greatest teaching resources. You will never be critiqued after each show like you are now. In fact, you will never get nearly the amount of feedback after you leave KOMU, even if you beg your news director for it.

On the other hand, KOMU might be a little too idealistic at times. You will most likely not have a central compelling character, interviews with both sides, or great nat sound in every single story, and that's ok sometimes.

Drunk driving is bad. Seriously, it's bad. You may never be arrested for it, but it's important you understand that.

When you graduate, college will seem about as small as high school does for you right now, and most of the major concerns you are stressing out about are actually very trivial. Spend less time worrying about Greek Week and more time taking in everything Mizzou has to offer.

Finally, be sure you want to be a journalist, because once you are in it, you might realize that there is nothing else you could ever do.

Editor's note: If you're a Mizzou journalism alum who would like to contribute to the Letters Home series, send us an email at onamizzou@gmail.com with your letter, your name, your sequence and graduation year, your current job and contact information.